This invention relates to debit cards, such as telephone calling cards and credit cards, and more particularly, this invention relates to debit cards having personal identification numbers (PIN).
Debit cards in the form of wallet sized phone cards have become commonplace in Europe, the United States, and Latin America because the purchaser of the phone card does not have to establish a special account with the phone company or other telephone service provider. As is well known, the phone card has a personal identification number (PIN) printed on the phone card. A scratch-off label, hot stamp foil, or other substantially opaque coating has typically been applied onto the PIN and covers the PIN. In the most simple type of debit card, the user purchases the card and scratches off this coating to reveal the PIN contained on the card. In the example of a phone card, the user dials a long distance telephone number belonging to the card issuer and dials the PIN contained on the card. The account balance is verified and a call to a desired location is completed by having the user dial a long distance telephone company. The phone card account balance is then charged.
In other types of debit cards, a magnetic strip can be applied onto the debit card to allow activation and/or replenishment of the debit card via a credit card or other means if insufficient funds are contained on the debit card. A control number often is established with the debit card to allow replenishing. As is the case with numerous debit cards, such as wallet sized phone cards, they must be processed in an automated manner very quickly. The PIN is typically printed on the debit card, together with a control number either adjacent to the PIN or located in another location on the surface of the debit card. One or two printing steps are required and a separate application step is required to cover the printed PIN with an opaque scratch-off coating. The applied materials, such as a label or hot stamp foil, are costly to apply and are a high cost consumable.
In one teaching as disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,757, issued Mar. 13, 2001, to Profold, Inc. of Sebastian, Fla., the disclosure which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, a scratch-off label strip is applied from a web contained on a supply reel during a labeling step. Although the scratch-off label is advantageously fed at high operating speeds during application of the scratch-off labels to about 20,000 to 30,000 cards per hour, a reel typically only holds about 15,000 scratch-off labels, and thus, some down time occurs when a reel must be changed. Also, web scrap is produced during this type of card production and must be discarded, sometimes adding to production loss and increasing labor and overall card costs.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a debit card having a PIN and scratch-off coating that can be processed in an efficient manner that overcomes the prior art drawbacks as noted above.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a debit card that has a PIN and a cost saving scratch-off coating that has been efficiently applied in rapid card succession without error.
The present invention advantageously forms a debit card by advancing a planar card member along a predetermined path of travel. The card member has opposing surfaces and a PIN printed on one of the surfaces. A radiation cured and opaque scratch-off coating is applied onto to the surface of the card having the PIN such that the PIN is covered by the applied scratch-off coating. The scratch-off coating is preferably cured by ultraviolet radiation as a form of radiation curing, but could also be electron beam, blue light, laser or other radiation curing techniques known to those skilled in the art.
The opaque scratch-off coating is preferably applied by printing the opaque scratch-off coating. It should be understood that the application of the scratch-off coating is substrate dependent, and a transparent release coating could be applied first, followed by the opaque scratch-off coating, and in some instances, an ink jet layer as personalization. Depending on the substrate for the card, which could have a protective coating over printed indicia, a release coating may not be necessary. Although different printing processes can be used, including rotary letter press, offset (lithography), gravure, and rotary screen printing processes, in one aspect of the present invention, flexographic printing techniques are preferably used for printing the scratch-off coating by metering a scratch-off material from an Anilox metering roll onto an impression plate (print pad) of a plate cylinder mechanism and transferring the scratch-off material from the impression plate onto the surface of the planar card member.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, the opaque scratch-off coating can be applied by printing a substantially opaque ink layer, and printing another ink layer under or onto the first ink layer. The first substantially opaque printed ink layer could be an ultraviolet curable ink that is opaque after curing. The other ink layer could be printed by ink jet printing and could act as a fingerprint pattern as known to those skilled in the art.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a security indicia is applied on the opaque scratch-off coating and could comprise a control code. The planar card member preferably comprises a substantially rigid plastic substrate, but could be other substrates typically used for debit cards, e.g., credit and telephone calling cards, including a paper substrate. The planar card member is substantially rectangular configured and wallet sized in one preferred aspect of the present invention.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a transparent release coating is applied onto the surface of the planar card member over the PIN when the type of substrate demands such release coating. The opaque scratch-off coating is applied onto the release coating such that the PIN is covered by the opaque scratch-off coating and then radiation cured, such as by ultraviolet radiation. The release coating enhances removal of the scratch-off coating without damaging the PIN.
A debit card is also disclosed and includes a planar card member having opposing surfaces. A PIN (personal identification number) is applied onto the surface of the planar card member. An opaque scratch-off coating is formed from a preferred ultraviolet/radiation cured medium and applied over the PIN to hide the PIN from view such that upon removal of the scratch-off coating, the PIN is exposed to view for use of the debit card. This debit card could be a telephone calling card or credit card.
The opaque scratch-off coating could be a first substantially opaque printed ink layer and another printed ink layer, including an ink jet printed layer, positioned under or over the first printed layer. The printing process used by the present invention could include rotary letter press, offset, gravure, rotary screen or preferred flexographic methods. The planar card member is substantially rectangular configured and wallet sized and could include a release coating interposed between the PIN and opaque scratch-off coating for enhancing scratch-off of the scratch-off coating without damaging the PIN.